


Angelfire

by UnrealRomance



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Modern Girl Insert, V is his own character, V is no longer part of Vergil, not a self-insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2020-07-23 07:17:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 22,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20004436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnrealRomance/pseuds/UnrealRomance
Summary: Wren's spent the last five years learning the ropes of Devil May Cry. She's no Devil-Hunter like Dante, but she's managed to carve out her own place in this Demonic world of his.(This story is just supposed to be my way of like, not only making V his own character and rewriting what happened in 5 just a tiny bit-- but to also get emotional catharsis between characters cause that never happens on screen in the games.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Cox just shut off the internet we were using from the last people to live here so I guess we wait till they can switch it back on for us or get someone else. Hotspotting off my phone for the moment...

I've spent years in the wrong world.

Or I guess you could say, a different world. No need to be all negative, I guess. 'The world I'm not supposed to be in', might be more accurate…

"Wren! Got anything in your scope?" Dante calls back to me.

Where I'm sitting atop a roof with a sniper rifle in my hands. I've got my eye pressed to the scope, but I can see little more than wisps in the air before him.

"You don't need to shout, Dante. I'm in your ear. Also…yes. But barely," I reply.

"Just gimme a clock position," he says more quietly but still really loudly.

He needs to get used to the newer technologies. There's no cell phones here yet that aren't huge and bulky but there ARE two-way radios with ear attachments. I prefer being able to communicate through a mission.

"Two, Ten and Eleven- but slightly off-center for all of them," I say. "All shifting very slowly back and forth, like they're waiting for something."

"Either for me to start moving or for their boss to show up," he observes. "Try takin' a shot, we'll see if that gets 'em all moving."

So I do. I shoot the one at Ten o'clock- right on the wisp I can see through my scope.

Well, that did _something_. The wisp wavers, but the bullet just deflects off.

"I think we've found them, Dante. Devil-killing bullets aren't working so…" Definitely an Angelo-type or something. Living suits of armor, shells, husks. Something that can cloak itself, though.

"Guess I'm startin' everything off," he says. Drawing the Devil Sword Sparda off his back. "Take a shot when you get the chance!"

"Got it!" I shift my gun sight to watch Dante as he moves.

This is a pretty routine mission. Get wind of a demon, powerful or not- go after it for money, then go home for pizza, strawberry sundaes and whatever else I can talk Dante into buying that _isn't_ those two things and booze.

Dante's not a drunk, but he does love to party.

He hammers at the Demons with his sword, ripping off bits of armor left and right until there's a sizeable hole in their defenses I can punch through with my rifle.

It doesn't even take that long to put them down.

The boss takes longer.

Shouts over the radio and the sound of a sword clanging against demon armor is…well, it's normal now. It was grating as hell at first.

It helps to lower the audio levels before going into a battle, so it doesn't make my ears ring any worse than a normal phone call at high volume might afterwards.

Dante doesn't usually like going out for anything less than catastrophic numbers of demons or higher-level bosses.

He gets bored easily. But I've made a deal with him and he's held up his end of the bargain so far…

As long as I keep holding up mine, it should be fine.

"We done?" He turns toward my perch up high, sword slung over his shoulder. "Can we go home now?"

"Anything left of the demons you just pulverized?" I ask.

He glances back and shrugs from what I can see in my scope. "Couple pieces aren't too hacked up. Gonna make something new for me to play with?"

I can see him grinning. "I don't only make things for you, you know. Nero, Nico, Trish and Lady all have their orders put in. I've got quotas to meet. Half of which pay your rent."

He sighs loudly in my ear and puts his sword on his back. "Yeah yeah, do whatever. Can I go home now?"

"Just as soon as you drop me off at my own job," I reply.

"You're goin' alone? Again? Didn't you come back with a huge scrape all over your body last time?" he asks. "You're not really cut out for the rough stuff, you know."

Whenever Dante tells me I'm weak, I know he's telling me he's afraid I'll get hurt.

It's part of his 'I'm invulnerable but you're not, so I'll go and leave you behind' thing.

Which is also part of his 'I care about people but I'll pretend I don't by insulting them and treating them like garbage' thing.

And I know that means he actually cares a lot about what happens to that person.

Still wanna smack him upside the head with something heavy and spiky for it, but I know what it translates to. Most other people don't, so they just see what he wants them to see.

Arrogance.

Me, I see an unhealthy coping mechanism that so needs nipped in the bud. "Dante, if you want to come with me, just ask. And maybe express concern like a well-adjusted person instead of insulting me like a jackass."

He scoffs while I'm packing away my rifle. "I don't wanna go. If you want me to go-"

"Dante. Knock it off," I snap. "I am really tired of you constantly implying I suck at my job. I've been doing this for five years!" Ever since I got dropped here, really. "Do you not realize the people you insult just get driven to do _more_ dangerous shit just to prove you wrong? Your tactics are fucked."

Then I glance over the edge of the building annnnnd. He's gone.

He probably didn't listen to a word I said after 'knock it off'.

Well fine. I can take care of this job on my own. I'd wholly intended to. I did need a ride though.

Sigh. I'll just call Nico, I guess? Or walk. Which will be hell on my legs. I'm fit but with all the jobs we have to do throughout the day on top of all my errands and the work in the lab in the library of the Agency-

Well, I'm pretty well worn out by the end of the day most of the time. Which is why rides from friends are super helpful.

Guess I'm putting some of my improvised spells to use now, then.

Walking down the fire escape of the building I was sitting on top of, I walk across the street and start using the grabber in my backpack to pick up Demonic bits and pieces from the ground- and put them into special containers that will 'purify' them of their original demonic essence, but leave their power behind.

Basically it wipes the hard drive of all the files, but the system itself isn't damaged or erased.

I find quite a few bits of already-drying blood that have crystallized.

The red orbs- among others, in the game -don't exist the same way in reality in this universe. Demonic blood does crystallize, but not into a specific shape or anything.

When it crystallizes, it holds whatever power was left behind by its original Demon but it's not much and it can fade if you don't keep it preserved correctly.

It _can_ be traded like currency, though, that's still true. It's good for a variety of magical and alchemical purposes so it's pretty valuable if you know how to handle it.

Lucky for Dante, I do. He seriously just tossed em' in a box and went hunting demons for more when they were all but useless. Then repeated the same cycle once again and again until we met.

I had to organize his whole flipping business.

Carefully placing all the items in their correct cases and then arranging them in my backpack takes time, which sucks- considering my ride just left.

I'll have to run to make it back home before daybreak when I have to do like five things before I can go to bed.

Good thing about working for Dante is I work late nights and early mornings but sleep all afternoon and evening. I'm just a night owl.

You've gotta be to hunt demons.

I make good time to the little forested area right smack dab in the middle of town, but only because I brought my charmed shoes today. They can glide along the ground like skates but they have a limited magical charm so I don't like to use them unless it's an emergency. But since I'm going home soon anyway, I'll be able to put them in their box with a bunch of crystallized blood and they'll be good to go in the morning.

There's some kind of light and noise that's been scaring people and reports of injuries sustained by people who don't know where they got them, only that they were walking through this place and got spooked.

So basically they were running on fear and adrenaline, got hit, but didn't notice till later.

Which could always mean Demons, but the particulars of this whole case screams 'magical artifact' to me.

Mainly because it's so ghostly and unknown. Demons like to be known. Magic is what's usually prone to mystery.

I should know, I've been studying both Demons and Magic for five years.

That's kinda how Dante and I met.

Performing a modified version of the Ascension ceremony probably sounds like a terrible idea- but I was in the Devil May Cry universe!

A Demon could literally snatch me up and eat me and I'd be totally powerless!

It was either do the ritual or just die. Cause the DMC crew might be loveable and save the world a lot, but they don't really tend to look out that much for innocent bystanders.

It's really…upsetting, in fact, that I cannot remember a single time they protected someone who wasn't a main character. Nero is the only one I can remember even trying.

…I can't even really recall them protecting _each other_ that much, either.

Watching each other's backs, sure.

But I have to remind myself-

Not everyone takes care of each other the same way I do.

I can still remember how Nero had to stop Dante from killing me on the spot when they discovered me doing the modified Ascension ceremony.

The aim wasn't to _become_ a demon. I just wanted to be able to _hold_ Demonic power.

You know, so I wouldn't immediately die when a Demon attacked me.

The ceremony worked, only…I completely brain-glossed over the fact that holding Demonic power didn't mean I was able to _wield_ it.

Or at least not more than a limited capacity. But…I mean, I was fine with that. I could create various artifacts filled with Demonic power that would be useful, I just couldn't like, shoot things out of my hands or create a sword from pure power and shit that actual Demons can do.

It's also handy for healing the wounds of everyone in the party who has some kind of Demonic origin, too.

Zapping human people with Demonic power can be a little painful but hey, at least they aren't dying anymore?

That's another change from the game universe. Demonic objects _do_ work on humans- just painfully or less effectively or even _more_ effectively depending on how you use them and what the situation is, it's-

Wild.

I begin to see the light before long and deactivate my 'hover shoes' so I can very carefully traverse the last few feet to my target.

…there's a gem in a tree. A glowing one, I shit you not.

The gem is a very reddish-purple kind of color, cut into the shape of a human heart? How the hell do Demons even do that? Gotta admire demonic craftsmanship, that's for sure.

It starts to glow brighter when I get near and just as it becomes its brightest- I brace myself for some kind of effect, but I'm still not ready for it.

Something comes screaming out of the Gem like a shade made of smoke and light- but it's physical enough to rip deep gouges in the earth as it pulls itself out of the gem by its…very long… talons.

One of my defensive charms puts up a shield that blasts me pretty damn far away from the thing, but…I also knock my head on a rock and have to deal with some very fucked up vertigo.

The thing about this universe is that things aren't exactly what they seemed from the outside.

I had to study and unlearn all kinds of magical things, demon facts and other shit from the game version all while learning the new versions- and I still sometimes get confused and mixed up between Devil May Cry lore and Devil May Cry reality.

So you'll understand if I reach for the wrong fucking charm and end up causing an explosion of light that just attracts demonic attention from nearby.

"Ughhhh!" I scream a little, because it doesn't matter anymore- and reach back into my satchel for the _right_ one-

In a very dull flash of purple shadow and red light- something that means this is as much demon-power as magic-power- the Shade about to kill me disappears.

I breathe a sigh of relief but then move very _incredibly_ quickly. Because the Demons in the area love to pounce upon magic users being very loud in public.

Using the pair of grabbers in my bag, I extract the heart-shaped gem and put it in its own special box, then close and lock it before stowing it away.

My bag is barely able to be closed at this point, but that's usually the case. It's a good thing I got one of those huge hiker's backpacks.

Also good that I put a lightening charm on it by sewing a rune into the bag because Demonic shit is heavy.

Getting rid of this Gem will appease the local goverment who contracted me to clear out the park of whatever was here- but it's a fairly low-paying job considering the injury I just got dealt.

"That's my fault, can't blame the client for my mistakes," I remark aloud.

And since that makes me feel kind of down on myself, I compose a poem to make myself feel better as I'm walking out of the park at a brisk pace.

" _Every lick taken is another story told_

 _Every single one will be a gem when you're old_ ," I recite, thinking about my retirement. Someday. When the world is hopefully less chaotic.

" _People will beg to hear about your plights_

 _To see through the eyes of one who fights_ ," I continue. Thinking about the way I used to read all the time just to escape into the adventures of others. Others I didn't think existed at the time, but…still.

" _They may not thank you and they may not applaud_

 _But the only people who care about that are total frauds_ ," I finish. Trying to remind myself that a smarting head and low pay are not reasons to give up on this job.

I have to protect the people out here who are like I used to be. The powerless, helpless people.

Now if I could just figure out Alchemy already, I might be able to make headway in constructing protections around the town for people when an outbreak of Demonic activity is happening.

I've been here since I was Twenty years old and I still haven't figured out how to perfectly blend magic and science, and I've had the _best_ teacher so I've really got no excuse.

It's just…it just doesn't make sense to me sometimes…

Nico is very good at making me feel like less of a failure, but sometimes…

I nearly knock into the front door of Devil May Cry because I was checked out the whole flipping journey on my 'hover shoes' apparently- how did I not wipe out once!?

Falling all over my own feet is just a regular with me, but when I go on autopilot, I never have to worry about it!

I wish I could do that on command…

Now all I have to do is put all my shit away properly, make a meal for when I wake up and whip up a few charms for Lady and Trish to pick up on their way out.

Then I can hit the sack and enjoy some blessed, blessed sleep.

Funny thing though, I don't hear Dante's bike pull up until ten minutes after I've gotten home.

Which means he followed my ass.

I want to be endeared but also want to be annoyed- so I settle for mischievous and charm all his pizza in the fridge to wriggle when he chews on it by placing a rock rune under the box.

Organic matter, alive or dead really picks up on magical energy pretty quickly. Sops it all up like a big magic sponge.

Handy.


	2. Chapter 2

I've made a _lot_ of preparations in the time I've been here.

Though it's only recently that I've begun to feel paranoid enough to start booby trapping Dante's old house.

It's in an entirely different city from the one the Agency is in, so I can only really get out to check on it maybe once a month.

And every time I do, I'm afraid I'll find Vergil, Yamato in hand- because I failed to protect Nero from him.

I have nightmares about it.

I have nightmares about lots of things. Devil-hunting, Dante's driving, Lady and Trish being sacrificed in rituals for their unique properties and blood.

Just cause I've gotten used to it doesn't mean it still doesn't make my whole body prickle with alarm when dangerous things happen. Anxiety cannot be controlled just by wishing it away or exposing yourself to a lot of it.

For some people maybe, but…

My heart is usually in my throat when I go on outings with Dante, but that's just the Norm when you're Devil-Hunting I guess.

I mean, unless you're Dante and basically unkillable…or Trish who actually is technically Demonic. Or Lady…

Basically I guess it's just me who's still constantly terrified.

Anyway, I just got back to the Agency from checking all the traps and wards in the house in Redgrave and as I walk in-

"Wren!" a streaking missile of a teenager leaps on me as soon as I enter the Agency. "Look who's here!"

"Patty, we've talked about this," I grit through the rib-grinding hug. "Gentle touch."

"Oh! Right, sorry!" She leaps away from me and puts her hands up in apology.

She's been trained from a young age by everyone in Devil May Cry. Dante didn't wanna but I kinda tricked him into it.

I didn't want her to be defenseless either.

But now she's kind of ripped and it makes me both hella jealous and also bruised.

You don't really understand the full scale of Demonic populations in the Devil May Cry universe until you get here.

Constant presence, holes ripping open in the gates between worlds with and without the help of dipshit humans who think they'll rule the world with Demonic power, when really they're just the first to get eaten.

No matter how young she was, I needed to know that I did my best to prepare her for whatever might come. She was thirteen when I gave her her first charmed weapon and showed her how to use it.

It was more of a smoke bomb that disorients Demons, but still a weapon of sorts. She used it multiple times when Demons used to attack the Agency like every week.

I think they've resolved to wait for us on their own turf at this point…

"Hey," Nero calls out to me, nonchalantly. "Nico's in your lab, might wanna catch up to her before she uses all your stuff."

"Thanks for the warning," I call back as I rush up the stairs.

He isn't kidding, tho. Nico will bulldoze my shit if she thinks she can make cool stuff out of it. And the worst part is she doesn't even notice when she's doing it. She sees toys and she goes into Alchemist mode.

"See you when I'm done wrangling Nico, Kyrie!" I shout.

I can hear a shouted response back but can't make out the words. I just know it's Kyrie's voice.

Patty's eighteenth birthday is coming up pretty damn soon. I know V is supposed to show up the day of, but he was created two days before that…

So I'm waiting till then, obsessively checking on the house in Redgrave- and texting Nero, Nico and Kyrie with increasing frequency every day that goes by.

Because her birthday is only…a few days away now.

When they go home tonight…I really should go with them. But what am I going to do to stop Vergil? Even falling apart he's super strong to the point of taking down Nero and ripping off one of his arms.

The best I can do is wait for him at the Redgrave house on the day he's supposed to show up and if my traps can't catch him…do something.

Even if I've got to tell him that it won't work and that he'll just end up even more broken than before, he might not believe me and then I'll have revealed myself as someone who knows the future for nothing!

And it's possible it isn't even going to happen.

Lots of the events of the past have happened the way they were supposed to- but with differences in the details. Dante likes bragging about his exploits, but he doesn't lie.

So it's possible it could happen. And soon.

"Nico, you'd better not be in my shit!" I shout as I enter the Library and head toward the back where my 'Labratory' station is.

She is indeed in my shit. But at least this time she's only touching the things I've previously given her permission to touch.

"You got the rest of the armor set!" she says. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I've been busy, Nico." I walk over to the wall where I've mounted all the intact armor pieces that were left behind after Dante's constant fights with all the empty-vessel/husk type demonic puppets.

The armor set doesn't match, of course- every piece belonged to a different set. But as they're all differing shades of black and red with some gold and silver thrown in there, they don't clash too badly.

It turns out it's not just the most powerful demons who can summon puppets or animate armor sets- it's any of them, really. I mean, the weakest might not be able to. But most demons can.

The things they can't do is create more demons.

I mean, without the benefit of normal procreation, anyway.

But the big powerful ones can create little minion-demons.

Seeing as I can hold but not really wield Demonic power…I figured, maybe I had access to some Demonic spells and tricks, but would have to go about it a little circumspectly.

I was right, but only with certain spells and tricks. I've wanted to try this one for a long time now. But I've been building up power in some of my power-soak artifacts so I don't have to use my personal in-my-body stockpile.

"Well let's give 'er a try!" she says. Gesturing emphatically at the finished armor.

"I don't want to wake something up until I'm sure I can get the spell right, and also…didn't you want to fiddle with the armor pieces first?" I ask.

She pouts and sticks her fists on her hips, "o' course! But I ain't makin' that thing a death machine before we know if you can bind it!"

Right…

Should be more worried about it animating and not taking my binding, I guess.

"I don't want to run a test run and then have a fully animated, bound creature without all the fixin's." I reply. "It took forever to find this much armor."

"Well it's a good thing I've got a whole nother set back in Kyrie's garage, ain't it!" Nico announces proudly.

And my jaw drops. "Why!?"

"I needed a prototype to work off of- it's filled with all the nice little bits and bobs I woulda put in yers!" she says excitedly. "So if this one works, we'll have two! One for little jobs and one for bigger ones!"

Can't deny the appeal at having a choice between two options for jobs, depending on which would be better suited to what…

"That means this one needs to be imbued with more speed and flexibility and the other one will need to be our strength fighter," I mutter to myself. "Where did I put those speed and strength totems I found in that old cave with Dante…"

"Yeah yeah, get whatcha need, cause we're animating this sucker _now_!" Nico states. "I've waited patiently for weeks, and you promised we'd do it as soon as it was done."

Groaning, I walk over to the section of the library with the sliding bookcases. I slide one out and reveal a small shelving area behind it that holds most of my artifacts. There's some behind every wall-mounted bookcase and you have to know how to open it so they're mostly safe.

Even from Dante as he has done enough puzzles in his life to be completely sick of them.

Grabbing the speed totem, which is a palm-sized charm really- it's actually a totem _piece_ , part of a much bigger thing.

And as I carry it over to the armor, I can feel it wanting to activate and coming up against the barrier of my humanity. If I reached into it with the power within me, there'd be a flowing link and it'd be captured inside me with the rest of my power but…it would be useless to me.

Nico takes the Totem piece from me and very quickly, carefully, skillfully- applies it to the suit of armor on the breastplate like a badge or a medal of honor.

"It'll absorb the power after I activate it, Nico," I say. "So that's kind of useless…"

"It looks good!" She says. Indignant. "Design ain't all about flawless execution, you've also gotta make it beautiful." Then she makes a face at the mismatched pieces of armor. "You know what, gimme an hour. I'll have this painted up and sealed and when you activate it, it'll be the prettiest armor puppet you ever did see!"

Well, here goes, I guess.


	3. Chapter 3

It took longer than an hour for Nico to finish hammering out the dents, buffing and painting and polishing the metal, grinding in the finer details for a design she consulted me on…

…which is a stylized bird.

I mean, nobody is really going to question that. I'm Wren. Wren is a bird name.

But to me, it'll always symbolize Griffon. A reminder of V whether he exists or not…and whether I can stop his existence from happening or not.

Just the thought of it, really distresses me.

I named it Sparrow, though. It's fitting to its purpose. A small-ish suit of armor, meant for quickly darting around enemies and landing glancing blows to slow and maybe even poison them if I can get it a weapon that does that…

"Alright Sparrow, one more time!" I point ahead at the lower-level demons still trying to advance on us. "I can tell they're hurt, you should only need another volley of attacks to put them down."

There's something about these thralls that is…different, from the ones Demons make.

See, I can't feed my own energy and intent directly into it. So I have to compromise either by feeding it energy whenever I want it to do something- which would be a huge energy suck- or I needed to give it enough consciousness to be able to comprehend my words, follow my orders and learn from its mistakes.

Nico and I learned all this through trial-and-error last night before she and Nero left in their…brand new RV…

I chose to give it consciousness. After all, it's Nurture that usually determines how a being turns out, not Nature. So if I teach it well, hopefully it'll end up like Dante instead of like Vergil.

You know, Demonic but also filled with light. Hope. Joy. Etcetera.

There's no human element to it, but I'm hoping that won't matter.

His newly stylized body glistens with Demon blood as he darts forward, hands ripping through the lower-level demons without much issue. He had to wear them down a bit as we don't have any weapons big enough for him that would also be light and easy to use in his…particular style.

The fighting style he employs is a bit rough around the edges. I think I need to talk Dante into teaching him how to box or something.

The best news is, for one thing, he's self-empowering. All he's got to do is kill a Demon and the blood that's in it will absorb into his armor and he'll have recovered whatever he might have lost in the battle. So I don't have to sacrifice my own stores for lower to mid-level Demons.

Also he can pick up the bits and pieces of Demon that have been left behind and place them gently in the little cases I've prepared for them. Touching Demonic things won't hurt him or curse him, so that's also a huge plus.

And once everything is put away in my pack, I'm able to secure it to his hip and order him home.

He immediately snaps into a running pose and takes off down the street toward Devil May Cry.

The first time, he got confused and I had to walk him all the way back to the Agency to show him where it was.

Now…I have to tell him to make sure to keep track of where we're going when we leave the Agency so he knows the way back, too.

He's learning fast, and seems to be pretty eager to get out, fight demons and learn new things.

…just like a child, really. Which makes me feel horrible for making him fight my battles for me at all, but I have to remember…he's a construct with a consciousness I gave him and has been built to be full-grown.

He might not know everything he needs to yet, but he's still fully functional. He's only vulnerable in the sense that he's completely under my power and as long as I stay aware and try my best to treat him well, that shouldn't be a problem.

But when he gains full sentience, can I set him free or will I be forced to terminate him?

"Fascinating…" a voice drawls from behind me.

I jolt and turn around, cursing myself for focusing more on training my new thrall than on my surroundings.

There's a shadowed figure in an alley nearby, and I think he's tilting his head now. It's hard to tell, it seems so dark over there.

"I hadn't thought to meet another who uses Demonic power as unorthodox as I," he says.

In an…eerily familiar voice.

Shit, what day is it?

He steps out of the thick, dark shadows, into the light.

Hair bright white, and I realize…that's Shadow in the shadows- making them seem darker, parting to reveal his form.

It's like…they covered him head to toe in their darkness…and Nightmare is lurking beyond.

Though not for long.

It very slowly dissolves as he steps forward- his hair turning black. Shadow disappearing into his tattoos.

God, he's so extra. Why is everyone in the Sparda family so extra?

"Beg your pardon for the startle," he says. Very slowly and with that same emphasis I can remember…but more natural. Less 'hammy acting' and more 'indolent talking'. "I am seeking Dante, the Devil Hunter."

"Why?" I ask while my throat tries to close on me and my heart starts a rhythm that beats my ribs with some force- I almost think it's gonna pop out of my chest.

' _Oh my god, Nero_.'

"We are related," he says.

Shocking the hell out of me.

Didn't V always try to hide his relation to Vergil?

"The…only family I know that Dante has is Vergil, his brother-" I watch as he seems to tighten up in interest "-and Nero, his nephew."

The way V looks at me, it's like I've pulled the rug out from under him. "Vergil…has another son?"

My brain kind of blanks. "Another…?"

I know what it all means but everything in me is screaming 'no, that's not how it's supposed to go!' so my brain is just kinda stuck.

"I…" he pauses and his shoulders tighten and release in a pattern like he's working himself up and calming himself down in turns.

"Devil May Cry," I say. Blurting a little bit. "Dante lives at the Agency. Nero…stays with his girlfriend Kyrie, so that's a little further away. But…Vergil…isn't there…"

"I would like to find him," he says. Head bowed enough that his hair hides most of his face.

Shit, how do you tell someone their father is probably dead- especially when you know they're likely to come back because they've done it before?

Jesus.

"Well…you can ask Dante about him," I say.

It's best if he hears the truth straight from a family member, I guess?

I can't fucking believe V is Vergil's son in this universe. I mean, lots of things are weird here but still.

Wait…shit, I have to ask what his name is before I start calling him 'V' and he wonders how I knew…

And that might not even _be_ his name in this universe-

My brain is breaking.

"Wh…what should I call you?" I stutter a little. I really can't help it.

He looks up at me a little from under his hair, lips curving in a very slight smile. " _I have no name, I am but two days old._ "

" _She laments that he'll not give a straight answer, but then again expecting one was folly,_ " I begin with an imperious eyebrow. " _After all, the Sparda kin do naught but mock and delight in dramatic melancholy._ "

His lips part and his head tips up enough that I can see the surprise on his face. "I am afraid I do not recognize the author."

I snort and roll my eyes. "Maybe cause she's me. Come on, I'll show you to the shop and _then_ you'll tell me your name."

And then I go on the most anxiety-inducing, silent walk of my life for…oh…fifteen minutes? An hour? I can't fucking tell, time is meaningless.

I _do_ make note that he's dressed differently than the V I know. Still a leather vest, but it's over a sleeveless white shirt. Think more Victorian goth with a modern edge than…whatever the hell it was he was wearing before. Grunge goth? I don't know.

When we get to the Agency, I barely register Dante asking who my 'friend' is. I just reply that I'm going to call Nero and gesture at Dante so V will know who to talk to.

At that point, I'm out of sight, up the stairs and down the hall. And I barrel toward my bedroom with enough speed to nearly set the carpet on fire.

The phone in my room is on a separate line than the main phone- all our phones have separate lines so we can be connected by the main desk and have our privacy, too.

I _need_ to call Nero. I think this changes things but if some things are still the same-

I have to call him.

"Nero?" I speak into the receiver when it's picked up.

"Oh! No, but I'll get him, one moment." Kyrie's voice comes through clear.

I think she can hear the distress in my voice, though I was trying to hide it.

When he finally comes on the line- my whole body sags in relief. I mean, I knew since Kyrie didn't seem alarmed that he _must_ be fine. But to hear his voice…

"Hey, what's up?" he asks. Sounding a little strange…in that way that he does when he holds the phone between his ear and shoulder.

"Working on the RV?" I ask.

There's a pause on the line. "I don't know how you always do that, but knock it off, it freaks me out."

I snort and then immediately sober. "You'll wanna drop that and come over, immediately."

"Something big come up?" He asks, like he thinks it's for a job.

"Something family came up," I reply. "Nero…you…you have a brother."

I have to pull the receiver away from my ear with a grimace- he dropped the phone. God that noise hurts!


	4. Chapter 4

Okay so it took like five minutes to be on the phone with Nero long enough to completely miss V leaving the Agency.

Dante was tight-lipped but he did manage to tell me that V left because Dante told him about his father…being dead. Killing him, more specifically.

I smacked him around with a chair and told him he should've eased into that, damn it!

But what's done is done. And now I have to fucking find him.

Which, I mean- I already kinda did? Sort of?

I mean, it's why me and Nero are in Redgrave. I can't even believe he's here. I don't know what he's going to do but I have very few ideas about where he'd go and he _can't_ be in the one place it'd be most dangerous for him to go, please?

"The traps are…" Nero kneels at the boundary of the old Sparda house and picks up one of the small pebbles that's supposed to be where the Trap springs from.

It's got touch-and-proximity sensitivity. The only person who can safely remove these traps is me.

"Shit, he _is_ here…" I groan.

"Why'd you booby-trap this place, anyway?" Nero asks while standing up and dusting off his hands.

"Just in case Vergil somehow came back from the dead, because your family seems to have a tendency to do that?" I say in a questioning tone. Mostly cause it sounds totally ridiculous but is also like a hundred percent true.

How else do you say shit like that?

"Heh," he chuckles a little. "It's just too bad…that Sparda and Eva never came back. It seems like it's…specific to Dante and my father."

I know part of Nero yearns to know his grandparents- because I mean. Dante is really the only blood family Nero's ever known and he's…all screwed up in his own way. It keeps him from trying to bridge the gap between them, which makes Nero sad.

"We've gotta find him, quick. I don't know how he got through these traps but he might be hurt somehow," I say. "I made them non-lethal but if he's using some kind of magic or demonic power, he could be straining himself beyond belief. I don't know why he didn't just back away the first time!"

And I can see he didn't, because the next trap is down- I can tell just looking at it.

As is the one on the doorstep. What the fuck.

"Well, let's go find him," he says. Brazenly stepping forward.

I smack a hand into his chest, holding him back. "Me first, asshole. If you don't wanna get trapped in a stasis field, stay behind me and follow in my steps. Stray off course and you're likely to trigger something."

He groans, but steps back and follows me. "Why do you and Nico both call me that?"

"It's accurate and it annoys you," I reply. Matter-of-factly. "Now be quiet and pay attention to what you're doing and your surroundings."

He makes noises of irritation but doesn't reply.

I disarm each trap within reach- but I don't have to disarm the ones directly ahead in the path- because they're all deactivated.

At least all of them outside and down the main hallway of the house.

When we get all the way inside-

"Oh my god!" I dart to the middle of the room where V is slumped on the floor. Right next to another deactivated trap.

Nero rushes after me and lands on his knees beside me because I'm already down there, picking him up and turning him over-

"Nnngh…" He groans with gritted teeth and curls tightly into a ball. Into my body, like he's mindlessly seeking warmth.

"Something's wrong," Nero says. "He feels…wrong."

"I'll have to take your word for it," I reply. Sour at the reminder that I can't sense demonic activity without special equipment to help me do so. "Can you tell what it is that's wrong?"

He makes a frustrated noise. "I don't know, I just know it feels like something should be there that isn't."

So I look back over the tripped traps, and try to put together what's missing.

If Nero is sensing a lack of demonic activity instead of sensing it at all, that'd explain a few things- except that using this much demonic power isn't supposed to knock you out if you're a Demon or rather- part Demon. It's supposed to hurt, sure. But Demons are acquainted with pain and using it to fuel further power is normal.

It's part of the reason they're so damn hard to kill. Dante's been stabbed through the heart multiple times and he's always gotten back up.

But this _does_ seem like…the first time I went out with Dante- something bad happened and I had to let go of all my Demonic power at once in order to get out alive.

Because I'd made it such a necessity for myself- my body took time to recover from the depletion and I had to go hunting for demons to suck the power out of all over again.

It's painful, the first few times, to get more power back in where it belongs. Like your body knows there wasn't any a moment ago and it's getting used to having some again. Like an immune response for Demonic power.

And a wild idea occurs to me that is probably totally wrong, but what if the Genes that carry the Demonic stuff didn't carry over to V? What if somehow his Demon genes became recessive? He learned about them somehow, and then tried to use Demonic power because he felt he should?

That makes no sense right now, but whatever. It's the only theory I can come up with that fits the whole 'Canon V is 100% human' thing. If this _is_ a problem brought about by loss of power, I can give him some. But he has to be conscious or I'll just be throwing it out into the air for nothing.

Or maybe it would work that way for him, I have no fucking clue!

"We need to wake him up, I might…know the problem- but I'm not sure." I say. "We need to be gentle though, he might be hurt."

Nero helps me very carefully look him over.

He _does_ have some injuries, so far as we can tell. We pulled up the edge of his white shirt under his vest and spotted some bruising.

But nothing is bleeding on the outside. Doesn't mean he's not bleeding internally or anything, which…is another reason to wake him up.

"Come on, come on," Nero says, shaking his shoulder. "I don't even know your name!"

He's starting to get all frantic and panicky which isn't good.

"Calm down, Nero- maybe we should just take him to a normal hospital. He's mostly human, right? Or at least he seems mostly human." I hedge. "Then when he wakes up, I can-"

And I stop and stare in terrified horror as I see something that shouldn't _be_ in this universe.

His skin has begun to crack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry he won't die. Or if he does, he won't stay dead.
> 
> He's representative of a disabled character and erasing that would be wrong. I like him the way he is, anyway.


	5. Chapter 5

Dante responded surprisingly fast to my frantic phonecall from his old house and even came up the drive with Nico's RV behind him.

Lady, Trish, Patty, Morrison and Nico all spill out of the RV; while Kyrie stands back in the doorway, wringing her hands with a pinched brow.

Everyone in Devil May Cry knows how important this is to Nero. Finding new family is like the holy grail for him. So they crowd around in the entryway after I wave them all back because of the traps, looking helpless and doing various nervous behaviors.

Chewing on their lips or nails. Tapping fingertips against their thighs and smoking like a chimney.

Dante is allowed through long enough to take one look at V and decide to scoop him up into his arms and stalk out the door cursing Vergil at the top of his lungs.

"What's going on?" I stand up and follow with Nero as he goes after Dante. "It's _my_ fault-"

"Don't you get it?" Nero asks as we walk out of the house. "He didn't break your traps and wards, someone else did and then he came in here-"

" _Vergil_ ," I snarl like it's a curse word.

Everyone snaps to look at me and I can see it in my periphery but I'm too busy seething with rage to care.

" _Next time I see him he dies,_ " I hiss through my teeth and I could swear…

I could swear I hear my voice get lower and more distorted, it actually shocks me enough I halt and break out of the blood rage that was filling my body.

"I mean…" Nero clears his throat and rubs the back of his neck. "I'm sure he'd deserve it, but-"

"He hurt his own child," I say. In a very small voice. "And whether he knew that or not, he attacked someone who could've been a normal civilian. I don't know why we hesitate to name him an enemy. We killed Nico's father and Lady's father, and a bunch of other people who all had families. Because they were evil."

With that said, I move after Dante and climb up into the RV, to watch as he settles V down on the sofa.

"I think he's lost all his demonic energy and I don't know if I can just give him some or not," I say.

Dante settles down on his haunches and puts a hand on V's head. It glows slightly with pulsating red light and though V scowls and makes a pained noise-

The fissures are closing.

Very slowly his body settles into the couch as he seems to adjust to the pain of the Demonic power infusion.

"He takes it fine," Dante says. Taking his hand off of V's head, he stretches his fingers out and then curls them into a fist. Multiple times. "In fact, be careful. It's vampiric, how quick and easy he soaks up Demon power."

Weird. Good to know, but weird.

V waking up happens in stages and no one wants to move him or go anywhere until it happens- so we all kind of ring around the RV outside with some lawn chairs Nico had in there.

It's funny how easily everyone just kind of non-verbally agreed to do it.

A member of Dante and Nero's family was hurt and that's all that mattered. He needed time to recuperate and that's all that mattered.

Because everyone here feels a link to the Sparda family and…I mean, that doesn't exclude me- but I always feel out of place in situations like this.

I'm not even supposed to _be_ here…

My link was forged not only through the past five years but also through like, video games. Comic books. Unreal things that…turned out to be only half true…

I'm the perpetual outsider here.

Still, when Nero and Dante come out to join the rest and I realize we're one chair short, I give my seat to Dante and head inside to keep an eye on V.

Nero is more…emotional than Dante- in the sense that he _might_ sit with V because he wants to- I can tell. But he's also more impressionable when around family, and if Dante is distancing himself, Nero will, too.

I've tried to talk to him about that kinda thing but it's like he gets it- then runs off and does the thing anyway. So…

I don't even know what to call V, here. His name has obviously got to be different than Vergil's, I mean…

Before his name was just the first letter of Vergil's name, so I wonder what it will really be?

His skin is no longer cracking, so that's good…but he's still unconscious- and when I pull up the edge of his shirt to check on his bruises, I see that they're turning sort of greenish.

That means they're almost healed, right?

"Nnngh," he makes a groaning noise.

I drop the edge of his shirt and shift to lean over him- watching for signs that he's waking up.

His eyes flutter open and spot me. Brows furrowing- and then Griffon explodes from his tattoos, appearing over him with a feral snarl.

" _ **Listen here, shit-for-brains-**_ " but he halts, and then perches on the sofa arm above V's head. " _ **Ehhh. I think we mighta missed a step here, V.**_ "

"Is that your name?" I ask, latching onto the opportunity. "V? A nickname?"

He groans and lifts a hand to rub his face. "What…"

"Hang on, I'll get Dante and Nero," I say and then get up to march over to the door.

Dante and Nero are already walking into the doorway and I have to stumble back to avoid being steamrolled. Guess they sensed him wake up or heard me talking to him?

They actually react badly to seeing Griffon, which I should've expected- but I have to literally leap in between them to get them to sheathe their sword and Devil Bringer respectively.

"Wait wait, he came out of his tattoos!" I say as I settle in place between the demon bird and Dante. "I think he's like a thrall or something?"

" _ **Familiar,**_ " Griffon huffs. " _ **Name's Griffon. And I got a contract with V, I ain't a brainwashed servant or somethin'.**_ "

"Riiiight," Dante drawls as he easily shoulders his blade and flips it back onto his back. All without scratching up the interior of Nico's RV somehow.

The swords have more realistic proportions here- but 'more' realistic doesn't mean _actually_ realistic. They're still fuck-off huge. How does he always handle them so gracefully and avoid doing anything with them that would knock shit over unless he's doing it on purpose?

Nero sighs. "So…you gonna tell us what happened?"

V sits up on the couch and seems to draw into himself. " _I care not whether a Man is Good or Evil; all that I care, is whether he is a Wise Man or a Fool._ "

I retort once again with my own line. " _What is a fool but a wise man as a young boy? A story told of a boy becoming a man is a fool becoming wise._ "

He lifts his head to watch me as I speak, giving me his full and undivided attention, which pauses me for a second, but I manage to finish.

" _Knowledge itself is a gift, not a toy. When a boy is given it, you will see him rise,_ " and that is my very subtle prod that we can't be 'wise' unless he gives us the 'knowledge' we need to figure out what the hell is going on.

He drops his head and I think I see his lips curve a little, but it's gone before I can be sure. It might not've even been there. "…I tried to find my father. I thought…perhaps he was trapped in the Underworld. He is part Demon, after all…"

Dante hisses through his teeth. "Damn. You didn't."

"What?" Nero glances between them. "What did he do?"

"Dante…?" I ask.

He's staring right into V's eyes, looking somewhere between irritated, resigned and…something else I can't name.

V meanwhile just looks…like he's given up. Like he doesn't care about anything. He just…looks back, blankly.

"You tried a summoning," Dante says. "Those things are unpredictable. Might not have even been Vergil you brought back- or at least I'd believe that if I couldn't tell this is the first place he came, with you what…trailing along after? Till he got fed up with his tail, at least."

I sock Dante sideways in the gut but he barely grunts. "Shut up, Dante. Nero, maybe you should go out and patrol Redgrave and report back on any weirdness? You and Nico can go in the RV together."

"Yeah sure," he says. Glancing at V. "But we'll take everyone back to the Agency first."


	6. Chapter 6

Instead of putting V in a regular guest room, I gave him the Attic.

Beyond the fact that Attic rooms are just cooler- it also has a door that no one can just kick in and walk into- they'd have to break the door latch, yank down the stairs and then climb up.

And I kinda figured he could use some time away from our merry little band and their cloying concern.

It's not like it's not great to have people fuss at you and show they care, but…complete strangers? Only one of whom you're actually related to?

So now, if he wants visitors in his room, he can leave the chain dangling down- and if he doesn't, he can tuck it up into the door. I even showed him how to do that part before I left him alone.

There's a lot of stuff in storage up there, but…I also felt like maybe he'd enjoy that. If he still loves poetry, there's a chance he still loves research and magic paraphernalia.

"What'cha doin'?" Nico asks as she bounces into the kitchen.

"Making lunch," I reply.

"That's an awful lot more than you usually eat," she says, gesturing to the four sandwiches- two on two separate plates.

"Yeah well, I'm gonna shove two of 'em down V's throat," I reply.

She snorts and chortles a little, "he does look like he's missed a meal or two."

On mine, I just made it how I like.

On his I made two different sandwiches with different meats and cheeses in each one- then I toss two packets of mayo, ranch dressing, mustard and whatever other condiments I can find in the kitchen in there too. He can make it to his liking.

"Haven't seen you do that since you started caretakin' Dante," Nico says. "Didn't last long, seems like."

"God, if anyone can keep up with Dante, they deserve the world," I reply. "I got two weeks into trying to crack that shell and got bounced back on my ass. Fucker."

She laughs with me. "It's a pretty good thing the rest of us were so easy, then," she says while stealing a piece of meat from the package to munch on. "Think this one'll give ya trouble?"

I pick up the plate and sigh, "all kinds."

Nico's laughter follows me into the hallway but pretty soon I'm tromping up the stairs alone- ignoring the stares Nero, Kyrie and Dante are sending me.

' _Yeah, I see ya'll bein' nosy._ '

Aside from the fact that I just believe food is love- V really does seem…like he needs a meal. A lot of meals.

I dunno if it's a side effect of that condition he has- that he shouldn't have as he's no longer part of Vergil…

Or maybe he is?

Pausing in the hallway on my way to the attic door, I wonder…if maybe he only thought of Vergil as his father because that's where he came from.

But…no. He wouldn't consider Nero to be the same type of 'son' he was if that were the case.

And he'd been giving Nero a lot of sideways glances. Especially when Nero would reach out and try to make conversation. Like he didn't quite know what to make of the overtures of kindness from a supposed family member.

He didn't seem to mind, though…maybe the exact opposite, but I really couldn't tell. This version of V is still emotional, but he tends to keep as much close to his vest as possible.

Walking up underneath the attic door, I pause and purse my lips. Then walk into the nearest room, grab an umbrella from the closet and use it to knock on the door in the ceiling.

I didn't even have to invade anyone's room. The one I took the umbrella from is empty. But every room has the basic amenities. I'm not sure why. I'd ask Dante, but he'd just make up some ridiculously overblown version of the truth that would hold details I wanted to know, and throw in a bunch of extraneous crap that I'd have to verify through a third party anyway.

Putting the Umbrella against the wall nearby, I wait.

Hearing the footsteps above me is nearly impossible, because V's such a quiet walker, but I _do_ hear it when he begins fiddling with the door.

I step back once more, just to be sure the ladder doesn't fall and smack me in the head.

When it _does_ come down, I take a few quick steps up it, popping my head into the Attic room.

V recoils at my sudden appearance from his place kneeling on the floor.

I shove the plate into his hands so that he reflexively grabs it. "Eat." I say very firmly but not meanly- then back off the ladder, and toss it back up with the chain hooked up inside it.

The last glance I get of V is of his extremely startled face jerking back like he's flinching away from the door as it closes.

Heheh. Actually kind of tickles me to see that expression on men's faces.

Don't get me wrong, I don't love tormenting men just for the sake of making of them uncomfortable or anything.

It's just funny when it's directed at me, a Five foot, five inch soft woman with barely any muscle tone on her body.

Or well. Visible muscle tone. I'm strong and I have muscles, but they're hidden beneath a very thin layer of fat.

Which just kind makes me look soft. All over soft.

So when men are frightened of me, it's like…well, it's like a huge ass dog yelping and running away when a Kitten hisses and spits at it.

I do always feel a thrill of satisfaction about it, whether I revel in it or not… Any woman who's experienced fear at the hands of men would feel that way.

At least, I think so.

Feels weird that it's V doing the reacting though. I feel bad about it the instant after it happens.

He's in a new situation and probably doesn't take well to abruptness from strangers, as most people don't.

But I didn't wanna infringe on his space more than necessary…and I also didn't want him arguing with me over taking the food.

A lot of people- prideful or not, will refuse kindness because they think it's only right to do so. I have a feeling V is the type to refuse it because he doesn't want to need it.

If he's the same, anyway.

Who knows, I guess we'll have to wait and see.

As for now…I need to keep training my little Sparrow.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY so those of you who read cross-fandoms and also read Unwritten:
> 
> I actually have a good reason for not updating this week beyond 'I'm still sick'. The next chapter is really REALLY long. Like it's already past like two thousand some words and still going-- I don't even feel halfway done and considering most of my chapters are like around a thousand words...yeah that's long.
> 
> Anyway, I might update with it next week or I might still need more time, because you know. Sick. But also because you know. Long.

"Aww, I'm sorry Sparrow." I pick up the blocks and give them to him again. "I know it's frustrating to work with such tiny things, but you have to learn to control your strength. You can't be crushing people I ask you to save or move out of the way. And learning to put limits on your strength will make you more precise."

Sparrow makes a strange noise- like he's trying to talk but doesn't quite have it down yet. A garbled litany of vowel sounds and consonants. "b-ah-ba-kss-chs…"

"That's right, Blocks," I say.

He seems to keep wanting to add or take away letters and syllables, based on what's easiest for him to pronounce.

It's not like he doesn't have a mouth or anything- awakening a demon thrall in a suit of armor just makes a demon that's kind of human shaped- in the sense that the armor is kind of human shaped.

He's got a mouth, eyes, fingers, toes…and a tongue to make the more complicated sounds with.

Still, if it's just impossible for him to speak any kind of human language for any reason, I can just teach him sign language. Should probably teach him that anyway.

But that would require me to learn it, and I'm terrible with languages…I tried learning sign, Spanish, and even French and Icelandic.

I couldn't retain any of it. My brain thrives off of repetition. If I'm not actively speaking it, it just goes away.

Settling at my desk, I start sketching up some sigils I need to use in my next project. And also write a list of weapons that might be suited to a style that would be good for Sparrow to learn.

…and also like five other things.

This is the only way I can work, okay? I know it's chaotic and I barely get anything done until I can get it _all_ done at once, but I have no productivity otherwise.

I tried working one project at a time and it totally killed my motivation. I couldn't do _anything_.

"Heya there," Nico saunters over. "What'cha workin' on?"

"Weapons, sigils, spell preparation and replenishment, the usual. What are _you_ up to?" I ask.

Nico is the only one who understands my chaotically disordered mind. She works on a lot of things at the same time too, though she tends to fixate on one thing at a time when it gets out of the planning stages.

"Same old, getting the armor just perfect and figuring out what to do next while we wait on news…" She trails off, reluctant to say his name.

' _Wait for news on Vergil_.'

"How is V?" I ask softly. "I don't really see him outside of leaving food for him or taking it to him…has he come out at all besides mealtimes?"

"Mm, not much," she says. "Mostly stays up in the attic, and when he does come down, he usually only comes in here to find books. Usually when you're out and I'm busy with somethin' else."

I blink at that information. A part of me was a little surprised he was avoiding me but the rest just internally nodded like that made perfect sense. He's avoiding _everyone_ , isn't he?

She fidgets when we're in the workshop and she wants a smoke. I don't like it when she smokes in enclosed spaces, even less when sitting or standing close to me- but I also don't like a source of flame anywhere near my very delicate, sometimes combustible materials.

So she doesn't smoke in the workshop. The one time she tried to test me on it, like I was nitpicking or something, I threw her out and didn't let her back in until she swore never to smoke in my workshop.

Don't think she has, a single time. I think maybe me very clearly outlining my boundaries made it quite obvious that it wasn't a moral issue. I didn't mention it outside the workshop and I only ever left the room when she lit up, to avoid the smoke. I didn't make faces, I didn't moralize.

I just didn't wanna be coughing, hacking, or blowing up.

Pretty sure after that she respected my wishes because she realized what a dick move it was to try and break the rule in the first place when all I wanted was a basic safety concession.

Seems like people tell her how disgusting smoking is a lot, so she just reacts with hostility anytime it's brought up. Doesn't excuse her, and she shouldn't smoke around anyone who doesn't want to get secondhand smoke, I'm still firm on that.

"What do you think he does all day?" I ask. "He can't just be reading all day long. People need other kinds of stimulation. Music, physical exertion- even if it's just to get up and pace a bit or something."

I don't often work out to the point that like, Lady does. I do it enough to keep up my endurance and a certain level of strength, but…I'm not all about one thing. No one is.

Even I, the voracious book hound, will look up to get a meal or walk through the house just to stretch my legs every once in a while. Play video games, draw, maybe even make some art projects with the odds and ends around the house.

Those were the things I did before coming here.

Now it's…magic, when I'm bored. Magic, when I need to work. Magic, basically all the time. And in-between those times, maybe I'll read. Maybe I'll draw. But now…now that I have something to do that I _like_ to do?

Life is just so much fuller.

And there's so many different kinds of magic!

Blood magic, regular old energy magic that just kinda comes from within you and saying incantations or drawing up pentagrams and whatnot- and even specialized magics for certain emotions.

You can use anger magic to concoct potions and spells that effect an enemy's emotions, or your own. Love magic can be used to help treat depression, of all things. It's like taking a drop of happiness a day, it's…

Well, it's how I've been managing my depression and anxiety since I got here.

"Maybe he just likes all different kinds'a books?" Nico says. "That counts, right?"

"If the two of you are finished discussing my habits…" an unexpected voice breaks in.

I jolt out of my seat and nearly fall on the floor while Nico just nonchalantly glances over her shoulder.

V is standing there, looking very tall and confident but also a little waspish- with that smile on his face.

That one from the game that was always a mask.

"I am leaving, and I'd like to return this," he holds up a black leather book. "Preferably before I walk out the front door."

"Oh," I say. Walking over to grasp the book as delicately as possible. "Wait, this is a grimoire. This is advanced magical theory."

"Is it?" he asks as he turns on his heel and starts to leave.

"I mean, obviously you knew that, I was just- hey, wait." I chase after him as he walks out of my lab, book clutched to my chest.

"Apologies, but I really must be going," he replies.

Griffon bursts from his tattoos and harries me. "Hey there, what's going on? We playing tag now? How old are you, again?"

Which means they both REALLY wanna get away from me, which I will be upset about later.

"Wait, I don't understand this book!" I call after him. Standing stock still at the top of the stairs after having followed him all the way down the hall and watching him descend them almost to the bottom.

There's a slight pause in his steps, and he turns, gripping the handrail on the stairs with the opposite hand to look up at me. "And?"

"And I'd like to," I reply.

"What are we, door-to-door magic tutors?" Griffon says.

But V looks interested. "In exchange for what, exactly?"

It takes me a moment, but only a moment to think of something. "Me and Nico, we're…Arcanists. Though I'm an amateur. And we study things like…well, like your condition as well as how to create artifacts, use them safely, yadda yadda," I explain. "If you'd stay here for a bit, let us study you for a little longer- we might find ways to help you…lessen your symptoms for the times when you run out of…well, demon power."

He stares up at me and tilts his head a little. Griffon alighting on his shoulder after he gracefully lifts his arm up to make a perch for him.

"Oh that's different," Griffon says. Not quietly but clearly in an aside.

V sighs and drums his fingertips over the stair railing. "I suppose it's something to do while I look into my fathers' whereabouts. But I am not staying here during the day."

"I can just give you something to take with you that'll take measurements of your energy for us, you don't have to actually be physically here for a lot of it," I reply. "In fact, the more you move around and do stuff, the better as the readings will give us a wider range of- wait is this yes, is this a yes?"

His head dips and he shrugs Griffon off his shoulders. "I suppose you should go and get that sensor. I am leaving and I will not be back until dark."


	8. Chapter 8

I never knew learning from V would be so harrowing.

He literally threw me in the snake pit of learning.

"Calm down and study the sigils," he says. Perched on the very edge of the pit.

I am literally in a snake pit. In an old ruin. Because of course he couldn't be a normal teacher and show me books and demonstrate- no.

Here's a fun fact about me. I _hate_ snakes and other creepy-crawly things like centipedes and worms and _uggggh_ **maggots**.

"I hate you more than I have words for right now," I reply to him as I breathe deeply and try to stay as still as possible. "There are no lights in here."

"So create one," he says.

"Magic agitates animals," I snap in as low a tone I can muster.

"I suppose you shall have to think of something, then." He says lazily.

Ohhh my god, I take back every nice thought I've ever had about this man. He's as bad as Vergil.

Considering people in another world thought he worked better as an aspect of him rather than his kid, I can't say I'm _totally_ surprised.

"God, you Sparda Kin and your flair for the fucking dramatic and your tendency to fuck with people's heads…" I continue to list out the traits I find undesirable just to focus on something while I trace a sigil on my palm.

Hopefully a tiny sigil on my palm will be less upsetting than if I'd just traced one in the air and flooded the whole area with light.

I don't even really realize what I'm saying until I tune back in again. "-frustrating stubborn fuckheads-"

Cutting myself off, I sigh and point my palm at the wall, staying still otherwise so as to not agitate the serpents overmuch.

The sigils themselves aren't difficult to see or write down once I have the light, but the whole process is stressful as hell.

And once it's over, what do I get?

A spell for attracting SNAKES.

"I hate you." I say, once again.

We're already on the way home. It's mostly a walk but we do still have to catch a bus to get back to the Agency.

"So you've said. Repeatedly," he sighs.

"You know, if you didn't wanna teach me, you could've just said so," I say. "You didn't have to come up with ways of torturing me into quitting. Cause I'm not gonna, you know. I'm stubborn like that. So you either say you want to stop and I'll respect your decision, or you quit torturing me and actually teach me like a normal person."

He stops at that and when I look back, I see him gripping his cane and breathing slowly.

"V? Are you okay?" I try not to be apprehensive. Maybe he's just mad at me for calling him out, he doesn't necessarily have to be falling apart agai-

Oh god, there are the cracks.

"V-"

"I'm fine," he grits. "It will pass."

I dunno what the hell he's talking about, but I wait a few minutes with baited breath, demonic power building up in my hands so I can just, shove it into him if he's wrong…

But he isn't.

It does pass. After a few minutes, the cracks begin to recede and…he's whole again.

"Do you need-"

"I'm _fine_ , I assure you," he says. "Intense emotion can sometimes trigger a reaction."

So he _is_ pissed.

"What exactly triggered your 'intense emotions' then?" I ask.

He closes his eyes and breathes for a moment before lifting his head and smiling in that extremely fake way at me. "By 'Intense', I mean any emotion at all, really. It's been so long since I was around other people, I've begun to experience them in a…different way than usual. Nothing to worry about."

"I'm worried," I reply.

"Noted," he says. "Regardless…I was not…'torturing' you into quitting, as you so eloquently put it."

"Normal teachers go over theory and demonstration before they throw their students into the literal deep end, so forgive me for being mixed up," I reply sarcastically.

He tilts his head at me. "Do they? I wouldn't know."

I frown at that. "Didn't you have a teacher?"

"Mmmno," he drawls a little. "I am self-taught. This is how I learned."

Blinking once, very slowly, I process that information. "Huh. That makes a lot more sense than you just being a dick."

He huffs a little, I think in amusement but it's pretty ambiguous. "Does it?"

"Well yeah, you seem like a laid back kinda guy, for the most part. Probably have to really piss you off to get you to be that nasty. I just couldn't figure out any other explanation from the available information." I say. "Usually people start out with theory before implementation. And implementation usually takes the form of practice in controlled spaces."

"How do you learn that way?" he says.

"Better than I learn any other way. I had to write down those runes and right now? Can't even remember them. I'm too pissed off and filled with adrenaline," I say. "You had to learn, out of necessity. I get that you had no other option but to throw yourself in feet-first. And normally I'd say I'm up for that kind of thing. But not quite to this degree, please. No more snakes, no more…creepy, crawly things of any kind. I'm Human. I can't survive a poisonous snake bite like I'm sure you, Nero and Dante can."

His mouth opens, and then closes. And his eyes do this, faraway dart-y thing like that had never occurred to him.

And then he says something really surprising.

"You…are Human?" he asks. Brows furrowing. "You…do not feel…human."

Ah, how to explain _that_.

"I did a ritual that was used to turn Humans into Demons and kinda…tweaked it. For my purposes. I just wanted to be able to hold demonic power, not…be demonic." I say.

His lips part and he tilts his head at me. "You…modified an incredibly intricate ritual meant to elevate Humanity for your own purposes and you want _me_ to teach you magic?"

I can…sorta understand how that might seem.

"Oh I didn't do it _right_ ," I reply. "I was going for something totally different. I have enough understanding of magic and magical theory that I could get kinda close. But…you actually understand the books. And the…other stuff that I can't make heads or tails of. I mostly intuit stuff. And while that can be a perfectly valid way to learn…I can't help but feel like I'm…" I reach up and scratch the back of my neck. "Sloppy."

"You _are_ very sloppy," he says. But as he doesn't seem to mean to insult me, I guess that's just his commentary on my assessment. "But you're also very powerful. Why would you need me to teach you what you already know, but in more detail?"

I flush and squeeze the nape of my neck with my fingers. "I…don't like being sloppy. I like precision. It's why I use a sniper rifle when I hunt with Dante and the others. I also…I really…" I huff through my nose a little in frustration. "I just want to be Elegant for once in my life, at something."

His eyebrows are both nearly at his hairline and his lips are curling at one edge. God, why. Why is he so beautiful and such an asshole at the same time. "Elegant?"

"You know, like…you!" I say, gesturing at him. "The low-energy attacks and highly tactical moves you make, that's…it's just so efficient and logical and _elegant_ and I _want that_."

He seems surprised in a _different_ way, this time. "Oh."

"So, will you try to…tone it down from now on? Don't like, take out the kid gloves or anything. Just…be aware that I'm fragile and Human and shit?" I ask.

Clearing his throat, he dips his head and fidgets a little with the hand on his cane. While the other struggles to find purchase somewhere. His hips, hanging at his side…

It's almost like he's nervous or flustered or something.

That spell must've taken a lot out of him.

"Certainly, I can…manage that, I think." He says.

Good. Hopefully I won't have to reveal any deep-seeded insecurities during our next lesson. God I'm such a mess.


	9. Wren POV, V POV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And yet again I didn't know it was saturday till the day was almost over. Ugh.
> 
> Good news is, I have three weeks worth of backlog built up. So I will definitely be back next week and the week after that. And that means I have more time to finish more-- which means I am back on my roll, baby.

"Oooh, it's…so pretty I might shed a tear!" Nico declares.

My newest 'Thrall' or 'Familiar' or whatever the hell you wanna call these suits of armor- is much larger than Sparrow.

I've named it 'Raven'. I was going to go with Crow, but…something felt off about that. Like it wasn't quite right, but it was close. So I decided on Raven and…that felt right.

It's almost like I'd already formed a bond with the thing before even activating it.

Nico didn't wanna be saddled with babysitting or teaching or anything like that, so it's still mine, even if she built it.

Still have to do a shitload of work to pay for her labor and equipment costs, but it'll be worth it.

Raven and Sparrow covering my back in battles will mean I'll have to rely on Dante, Lady and Trish a LOT less.

I still want a very small one, something less than human-size that can crawl through spaces I can't. Having a fighter, a darter and utility thrall each…would be super useful.

Just…have to be careful not to have too many at once. I can already feel fatigue in my bones from doing Raven's awakening too close to Sparrow's.

Speaking of Sparrow…

He's standing over near Raven and examining every inch of the other armor demon. Poking the plates around their face as if that will give him some idea of what is going on.

I don't know why I've already assigned them genders…but in my head Raven is a they and Sparrow is a he. Is that part of the bond? Am I just supposed to intrinsically know these things? That was never in any of the books I could actually decipher.

Who could I even ask about-

Oh. That is a terrible idea but. I mean. He did agree to teach me things. Asking questions has to be allowed, right?

It'll have to wait till I'm back at Devil May Cry and he's not…doing that weird lurking thing he does around the neighborhood.

My sensor says he does this strange patrol pattern where he just kinda…circles the building in a big arc. I think maybe he's making sure the place is still safe, so he can know the exact boundaries of the safe places in town, cause the circle gets bigger every day.

Or hell, maybe he's just making his way out, restlessly pacing and waiting for word. Since Morrison, Nero and Dante all have contacts they've been calling for information and shit, V hadn't seemed to feel the need to investigate personally.

But he just…can't sit still, I guess.

* * *

V POV

' _Elegant,_ ' I think as I pace the length of my room. ' _She thinks I'm_ _ **Elegant**_ _._ '

It's nearly amusing.

If there were words to describe how I fight or move, I suppose I'd use something like 'efficient', but… Elegant?

" _ **Jeez, what's got**_ _ **your**_ _ **pants in a twist, eh?**_ " Griffon questions from a rather precarious pile of books.

"How would you describe the way I move, Griffon?" I ask. "If you had to choose a word?"

" _ **How you move?**_ " he asks, baffled. " _ **The hell're you on about?**_ "

Shadow rumbles from the bed where she's lounging and watching me pace. I can feel a sense of playful amusement. She finds my preoccupation entertaining.

How wonderful for her.

"Well…" I say. "If you can't answer the question…"

Griffon puffs up, predictably. " _ **What, like I ain't got the words to do it? I ain't ignorant, pretty boy.**_ "

He's called me that before, but only when he's irritated with me.

"Oh? By all means," I reply.

I take some measure of delight in tricking my most stubborn familiar into doing things he wouldn't normally do. Or into doing things he _would_ do if I would _explain_ , but I'm not quite in the mood to do so. Using my wiles in some way. Sometimes manipulating, sometimes bargaining.

It's almost like a game.

" _ **Hmph!**_ " Griffon huffs. " _ **Fine, then. I dunno, uh…depends on the day. Sometimes you're uh…smooth, like…a uh…a river!**_ " he says. Nearly excited to have found a metaphor. " _ **And then sometimes you tend to like, jitter a bunch. So you'd be like…eh…rough. Like…rapids!**_ "

He's sticking very close to his water themed descriptive metaphors. It makes me smile, a bit. And feel a crawling warmth in my spine. It never lasts long, but I enjoy the feeling while I can.

"Smooth, hm." I subside into thoughtful silence. "I suppose that's all she's seen. I haven't had a bad day in front of her. I've been injured and…had an episode…but I wasn't moving at all during those."

" _ **Whoa whoa, what are we talkin' about now?**_ " Griffon suddenly sounds much more interested in this conversation.

"Wren. She…" I pause and tap my fingers on my cane. "Seems to believe I'm 'Elegant'."

" _ **...holy shit,**_ " Griffon mutters. Then coughs and clears his throat. Preening. " _ **Oh yeah? And you uh…?**_ "

"I believe she's mistaken," I reply. "I have never felt 'Elegant'."

" _ **Oh. Alright, that makes more sense,**_ " he mutters again. " _ **Maybe you just got different ideas of what that means?**_ "

That could be true. After all, language is mutable. People often have misunderstandings over the meaning of words, do they not? Even when the word means exactly what both parties think it does, it still somehow manages to create a rift because there is different emphasis on separate values.

Perhaps what she thinks of as Elegant is simply…all the things she listed before. Efficient, low-energy.

Whereas I…well. It's a very artistic concept. Smooth and flowing movements, long and graceful limbs. And while my limbs may be long- they are not graceful. At least, not always.

Something poetic. Beautiful in a way.

Nero's fiance, the woman named…Kyrie. She was Elegant. She moved with grace and deliberation.

" _ **Why's this botherin' ya, huh?**_ " Griffon flies over to perch upon my shoulder and I lift my arm to accommodate him.

"I'm not certain," I reply. "It struck me. Surprised me. I almost had another episode over it. My emotions…peaked. Very strangely. I don't think…I have ever been complimented in quite that way before. The compliments _they_ gave me were about my power, my obedience, my skill. Not…anything cosmetic or aesthetically based. I suppose I was just unprepared for it."

" _ **Ahhh. Yeah,**_ " he shuffles on my shoulder, feathers ruffling. " _ **I guess this really is the first time.**_ "

Why is it preoccupying me so much? Why does it matter? Because it is the first time? Or…

"Hey V!" Nero's voice shouts from below my room. "Got a lead on Vergil, let's go!"

I move faster than I thought myself capable for a moment- and then have to stop and lean heavily on my cane. I've displaced Griffon and he swoops around me in a circle, waiting for me to slump so he can pull me back to my feet.

It's always felt different when it was Griffon, or Shadow. They are part of me. I am picking myself back up, if I stumble and they catch me.

The cracks appear across my skin and I must grit my teeth. "I will be down…in one moment."

Our hearing is superior. He heard me.

Now if I can only hold myself together long enough to find my Father…


	10. Chapter 10

"Again," V directs.

I'm practicing something new today. Something much more my speed…but he seems so distracted, it's hard to pay any attention myself.

I can understand why, but…

"Do you mind if we pause so I can ask a question?" I ask.

His eyes leave the windows and flick to me. "About what?"

"My…thralls? Familiars? I don't even know what to call them. I just know they're linked to the part of me that is able to hold Demonic power. What are they exactly and how do they work?" I ask.

Lifting his brows, he tilts his head at me. "You knew none of this before embarking on the venture of birthing them?"

"I told you, I can't learn from the books," I reply. "I learn by doing. Mostly."

And then I pause, thinking about something for a moment.

"Birthing them?" I ask.

He hums. "I had a chance to examine them when you came back yesterday. After Nero and I swept for signs of Vergil. He'd already moved on by the time we got there, but when we got back…your armor suit had multiplied and I was…curious."

"They didn't multiply, I just…made a new one," I say.

His brows furrow.

I explain, "Multiply…it implies like, reproduction. But my first suit didn't like, give birth to the second. And I was asking about the 'birthing' because I definitely did not do _that_."

He chuckles a little. Low and quiet and honestly stomach-flippingly beautiful. Whoa, that hasn't happened since he got here. Not really, not like that.

"Birthing is exactly what you did," he says. "You used energy from your own body, the part that is demonic- and you created two entirely new demonic entities. They are not thralls or familiars. They are your offspring."

I stare at him in silence for a moment. "You mean babies. They're babies. I'm a mother?"

Is the room spinning?

"Demons are never infants, not exactly," he says. "You may consider them perhaps…to be young teenagers? They need to learn things, but their bond with you allows them to already know much. You may have wondered how they learn so quickly? It is because they are using your knowledge and experience to learn what they need."

"Like an umbilical cord for knowledge?" I feel so weak.

"Exactly," he says. "I assumed you were aware. I apologize for not realizing you didn't know. I could have informed you earlier with a quick examination."

I'm shaking.

"I see this is a bit much for you," he says. Staring at me. "Would you like to ask more questions or would you prefer we end for today?"

There's so many things I need to know but can my brain handle it?

It has to. I've screwed up so badly, not even knowing it!

I have to fix it.

"How do you raise Demon children?" I ask in a high-pitched voice. "I had one punch a demon to death the other day, oh my god."

V stands from the windowsill where he was sitting and walks over to sit in front of me. "Calm yourself. Demons are not children. No matter how child-like they can be at first, they are always Demons. Demons seek bloodshed and power above everything. You merely introduced them to their own nature."

My brain shifts into gear then.

"It's like the Klingons," I mutter to myself.

"Beg your pardon?" he says. He's got narrow eyes on me and the distance between us is small but I'm too focused on what I've just realized.

"It's a fictional species in a science fiction tv show where I'm from," I reply absent-mindedly. "They're warlike. They have these…instincts and urges and cultural practices that set them apart from other species. Their entire culture is structured around honorable battle and dying honorably and other stuff like that. In order to raise a Klingon in a way that's good for them, you have to teach them things that would be harsh or bad for a human child to learn too soon."

"A separate species with different needs is…a good way to view it," he says. Cane across his lap, fingertips drumming across it. "What they require most, is human blood. In order to become stronger, learn faster. Drinking it is the fastest way. But they could also-"

"I think maybe the limit here has to be that I can't let them kill people," I say. Putting my hands up in defense. "Would blood that's been on ice work? Like from a blood bank?"

"That would likely be diminished in potency, but…perhaps. Or you could give them your blood," he says. "Blood from a demon or a demonic parent can sometimes be used to bolster the off-spring's power. Usually in exchange for obedience. Infuse it with your demonic energy, and it'll be like…mother's milk."

"God that is a gross image in my head, but thanks," I say.

And I reach across and kiss him on the cheek because I was acting without thinking- and then get up and run out of the room and down the attic steps. "Sorry, we've gotta stop for today, but I'll come back up tomorrow!"

It isn't until I'm halfway down to the room in my workshop where I've been keeping Sparrow and Raven that…well, I realize I just kissed V.

Focusing on my demonic children seems like it has less likelihood of freaking me out, so that's what I do.


	11. Wren POV, V POV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's all pretend I didn't forget till 12 a.m. to update today and just imagine it was still wednesday when I did this.

I'm a _terrible_ mother. I can't believe I didn't even know they were my offspring.

I thought it was the same as when a demon creates thralls!

…maybe it is.

Oh god that just makes me feel _worse_.

It's okay, it's okay. The important thing is that I do know now, and I'm going to get better at parenting my demon children.

"Okay, so we've gone over colors and you guys seemed to…uh…pick that up really fast," I say. "Numbers? Have we done numbers?"

"Yesss," Sparrow replies. "Numbersss."

He's still got a little problem with the letter s, but that's okay! I can still totally understand him.

"Mmmmother," Raven rumbles in their deep and gravelly voice. "When do we fight?"

"Yesss, when do we fight again, mother?" Sparrow parrots.

"I'm…not sure," I reply uncertainly.

They're demons. Demons have different growing needs. Different instincts.

"It's always smarter to gather all available data, and know exactly who to fight to bring about the best possible circumstance. So we're…waiting. On gathered data." I say.

"Hhhhow do we fight?" Sparrow asks.

He also has problems with the 'h' sound sometimes. But he's been doing that less and less lately!

"Oh. Well, uh. That…that part is easier to answer," I reply. "I've been trying to think of ways to prepare you for like, demon attacks and magical user opponents and stuff because they WILL come for us…but I don't know what weapons might suit you. And now that I know you're…well, you'd have to choose what weapons and styles suit you best."

"How would we know?" Raven asks. Slowly in their rumbling voice.

"Uh…I guess you try a bunch of different stuff and see what works for you?" I say. "I can have Dante take you out on jobs with him, and…have him show you how to use weapons."

They shuffle a little like they're excited but uh…they're still having problems figuring out how to move around. Sentient suits of armor don't tend to have much flexibility. I'm wondering if I can do something about that, but…

Well, it began improving when I started feeding them my blood, so maybe it'll just…take care of itself?

* * *

V POV

" _ **You're doin' it again,**_ " Griffon hisses into my ear.

I jolt upright and glare behind me where he sits upon the head of the sofa. "If you are unhappy with my reading habits, kindly take your complaints elsewhere."

" _ **Ain't your**_ _ **reading**_ _ **I got a problem with,**_ " he scoffs. " _ **Fess up, somethin' happened. You been starin' at the same page for like a half hour, V.**_ "

A long time ago, we came to an agreement, my familiars and I.

They wouldn't watch me if I asked them to disappear back into the tattoos on my body, unless I gave them permission.

Now I wish he had been watching if only so he could tell me what it _means_.

There is also relief that he _wasn't_ watching. I made…

Well, I made a fool of myself after she left. Pacing and muttering to myself.

I have never experienced any sort of affection, platonic or otherwise-

No. No there was the once. When they brought that new doctor in who didn't know anything about us- when he tried a different method to controlling myself and the other subjects. He pet me on the head a few times.

It felt so forced and fake that I don't usually think of it as affection- but that _is_ what he was mimicking.

Wren however, is entirely genuine. In such a way that it's actually quite jarring. She tells me her thoughts to my face, no matter how I may feel about them. Though she is…considerate, and tries a gentler approach when she thinks she may upset someone with a certain topic…

She doesn't avoid the topic altogether, or talk around it.

Which makes this situation confusing.

The behavior she's shown me until now could be considered friendly. Even feeding me, and watching out for me in the way she does, by trying to keep too much attention from exhausting me when others are here…is familial.

Was the kiss friendly? Was it familial?

I've never seen her kiss Dante. Or Nero. Nor the women in the agency. Perhaps a kiss blown, but not a direct…touch.

And her hand was on my thigh. Nearer my knee, but on my thigh.

She did it so absent-mindedly, how do I know it means anything? And if it does, what then?

How do you tell someone you're so confused, maltreated and broken that you don't even know what affection or love _is_ , when you think they may be…when they might…

" _ **You're doin' it again!**_ " Griffon squawks.

Biting my lip, I close my book with a snap. "Leave me be, Griffon."

He huffs, ruffling his feathers, but he dissipates back into my tattoos.

Shadow is lying across my lap and looks up when I collapse back into the couch.

I pet her with one hand, the other holding my book on the knee not occupied by a giant demonic cat. "Do you understand me?"

She purrs.

"You always do," I say, scratching behind her ears.

She purrs louder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea why these updates are so short this week...that's so weird. It's like I picked a stopping point around the same amount of words for all three of them and I didn't, it's...
> 
> Weird.


	12. Nero POV

Hasn't been that long since we were all in Redgrave…but…

It feels like forever ago.

I barely noticed the house then. So worried about V and what he could be doing after Dante opened his big fat mouth- I didn't really take in the sights.

Now, though, we're here together. And while V investigates and disarms Wren's traps- I look around.

The grand, sprawling estate of my grandparents.

If they'd been alive… my life would've been different.

Hell, I might not have even existed.

Sucks that sometimes in order for certain good or necessary things to happen, terrible shit's gotta go down.

There's a big picture above the mantel and it's probably the only look I'm ever gonna get at them. Should've brought a camera. Could've taken a picture of that painting.

…I'll come back and do it later, alone.

"Sparda…." V mutters, walking up beside me. "The picture is damaged…but he looks…very human."

"High level demons can look however they want," I say. "I just wonder if that mattered when they had kids. Did Dante and my father ever look demonic, before they learned to look human? Did we?"

"I have it on good authority that I always looked human," V says, bitterly. "But you…Dante said you were born with a demon arm. Were you not?"

"Yeah. Wasn't great," I reply. "Growin' up in a place where they hate demons and you've got this unexplained demonic power…doesn't win you many friends. But Kyrie was there."

Kyrie's always been there.

" _O God, protect me from my friends, that they have not power over me. Thou hast giv'n me power to protect myself from thy bitterest enemies_ ," V says. Walking away, leaning heavily on his cane.

That's not what he really thinks of having friends, is it?

"Uh…what does that mean?" I ask as I follow him.

He pauses and glances over his shoulder at me, with a raised eyebrow. "Do you really want to know?"

"Sure…?" why is he askin' like that?

He turns and shrugs. "Most would likely interpret it as… 'Guide me to follow my own ideals and not that of those who have sway over my emotions. This way, I'll be safe from my worst fears of becoming someone I'm not' But I always interpreted it to mean that friends hold control because you hold feelings for them, and until those feelings are gone, that power will persist."

"But friends don't _want_ to hold power over you," I argue. "Not if they're real friends."

"Of course they do," he replies. "Well-meaning badgering is no different. Someone who forces you to do other than you would have otherwise…is not allowing you to make your own decisions."

"But what if it's a _bad_ decision?" I ask.

"It's mine to make," he says. "Yours to make. Ours to learn from. That is the way it has to be if you want to be strong, and stand alone."

"Sure, but somebody just tellin' you it's a bad idea isn't makin' you do anything," I argue as I follow him further into the house. "Somebody givin' their opinion is just talkin' to you."

"And if you care about them, their opinion matters," he says.

He doesn't go on, or elaborate at all…but I get what he's saying now.

You make terrible choices sometimes if you think someone you really admire or like will think better of you for it. It's normal. People go through those kinds of phases.

"Most grown adults can get over that urge," I tease. "Maybe you're just immature?"

He throws a nasty glare at me from over his shoulder. "I'd wager I'm more mature than you are."

"Oh yeah?" I ask, circling around him. "How's that?"

"Put away the measurin' stick, boys," Nico comes clomping through in her boots. "Vergil's gone- or at least the locals ain't seen anybody who looks like him for a day at least. We think he's underground. Need everybody on deck."

"We'll be there in a minute Nico," I say. "Just kinda…takin' in the place."

"Sure, take it all in," she says. "Then get your butts back to the city center so we can meet up with Dante, Trish and Lady and figure out a schedule."

"I'm going," V says and walks off back the way we came.

Before he gets out of the door, though, Nico shouts.

"Wait! Who undid all these traps? Is Wren here?" she asks.

And then I realize, oh. Shit, yeah. Wren isn't here. V did that.

"No…V did it?" I can't help the questioning tone as I turn to look at him.

He's staring over his shoulder at us, hair covering half his face as usual. "And?"

"Wren taught you how to take down her traps!?" Nico shrieks. "She won't even show _me_ that!"

"Did you just figure it out yourself, or…?" I'm tryin' to mediate. Nico hates bein' left out, she'll be in a foul mood all day.

V turns away and his shoulders hitch a little. "…she showed me this morning."

Nico screams. "WREN YOU COMPLETE ASS, I AM GONNA _MANGLE_ YA!"

And then she goes stomping out of the house, brushing past V, who looks very confused. And maybe…a little embarrassed?

I walk up and clap him on the back. "Don't worry about it, man. Nico is just eh…needy and clingy sometimes when it comes to her friends. She'll get over it."

He glances aside at me and then away. "I…wasn't aware it was anything special."

"Wren doesn't trust easy," I explain. "The only reason we know the emergency release on her traps is so we can detonate them in the field. We don't know how to disarm 'em and pick 'em up. Guess she must've figured you wouldn't get yourself blown up."

He's frowning when he looks at me again. "What does that have to do with trust?"

"She doesn't trust any of us not to just…" I scratch the back of my neck. "You know, leap into a thing without lookin' first. She must figure you're…different."

I could swear before he turned away that his face was turnin' red but his voice is so placid when he responds, I think I must be wrong.

"We have a demon to find. Let's go."


	13. Chapter 13

" _ **Destroy him, mother!**_ " Raven bellows from the sidelines as I go toe-to-toe with Dante.

My kids kept harassing me about learning to fight, so I eventually caved after they'd learned everything else I could possibly teach them, plus a few subjects I knew nothing about.

Sparrow read an entire swath of medical dictionaries, textbooks, diagrams- he could be a surgeon now, I guess, if he wanted.

So I suppose that takes care of the team medic, if we ever actually needed one. We don't. Everyone on our squad is nearly-indestructible, demonic or good enough they won't even get tapped in a fight most of the time.

And I can use my demonic power trapped inside me to just, heal whatever injuries I get by basically consuming it as fuel for my own body's processes to use.

Or rather, my body has the fuel and the demonic power is a way to…supercharge it?

I can't quite articulate that yet.

Dante throws a few punches at me and I use the demonic power contained in my body to strengthen my arms to block and quicken my legs to dodge.

I'm not a full demon like people in the order would've been after their own ascension rituals- but even the most mundane of humans can use demonic power, it's just a matter of knowing how.

Took me a year to figure out how to heal myself. Two to figure out how to strengthen my limbs. Three to figure out speed and shock absorption. By year five I was able to use my power in any way I could think of.

Feeling out the situation and then finding an adequate response is my usual strategy.

Against an opponent like Dante, even when he's holding back, speed and durability are important. I have to keep my guard up, dodge every hit I can, and then every once in a while-

Spinning into him from the last dodge, I put my elbow firmly in his solar plexus.

He's fast enough to dodge it- but I still managed a good strike before he could completely move away.

" _ **Yesss, mother!**_ " Sparrow calls in triumphant tones. " _ **Hit him again!**_ "

It sounds like when I was younger and my little brothers and I would play boxing with other kids and the adults would ring around, egging us on.

Not really a good memory exactly, but I at least enjoyed getting to play. Even if I really didn't like that the boys were usually more well-trained than me, even a few years younger than I was and people would make fun of me for losing to a tiny child who knew how to fight when I was an older child who didn't.

I suppose it's too much for assholes like that to realize that skill trumps outright power.

Considering they were all ableist, homophobic, abusive-

"Whoa, whoa!" Dante has his guard up, blocking the rapid-fire punches I'm aiming at him. "Wren, Wren!"

I step backward and cancel my attacks, breathing deeply to compensate for the way I was just holding my breath. "Damn it."

"Nother flashback?" Nico asks from nearby, cigarette in hand. Smoke pouring from her mouth as she speaks. "What was it this time?"

I shake my head and step out of the ring. "Too complicated to explain, I think," I reply.

Every once in a while I'm triggered by something. A smell, a color, a sound, something so similar to something I saw in my past that I feel irritable, angry, apathetic…it could go on for a good long while before I realize what I'm doing and pull myself out of it.

Already in the throes of a physical altercation, I didn't realize I was really pushing it until Dante said something. Which is dangerous. And also part of why I can't go in the field on the front lines. Everyone agrees that it's a bad idea to send someone out into a fight who might lose their senses and disappear into their own head halfway through.

I depleted too much power. I'll have to go on a job or two this week to replenish my stores. It isn't much in the grand scheme of things- I house…a _lot_ of demonic power. So it's not like I used even a tenth of my stores for that.

But I slipped up and used more than I'd intended to, and I always keep my tanks topped up in case of some kind of cataclysm.

Sometimes it's not enough to carry me through a whole episode of Dante's family drama.

Vergil and I have met.

Though it wasn't for long and we didn't really speak to each other. The whole time I was so terrified I was about to die that I could barely process the complicated feelings I had surrounding Vergil and V and all that mess.

Now it seems I don't even have to worry about it.

"I'll go next," a low, rasp-edged voice speaks into the space I had stepped out of.

V saunters into the room and I wonder for how long he'd been there in the shadowed doorway, watching the goings-on.

"You know how to fist-fight?" Dante asks him.

"No," he replies. "I prefer swords."

Dante's teeth show in a grin and I swallow down my instinctive reaction to V being anywhere near anyone with a sword as phenomenally overpowered as Dante.

"Alright, practice swords!" Nero gets up from the bench nearby where he was sitting with my kids and cheering on Dante.

They took sides, it's cute. Even if it triggered a little episode, I can separate this good memory from that bad one. I _can_.

He grabs the swords off the wall that he and Dante regularly use for sparring, plus one extra and passes the extra to V as he takes up position outside the dueling ring.

"Alright, so we have rules to our engagements," Dante explains.

V glances down at his cane and then walks over to my side of the ring, passing it off to me.

I don't even really notice his proximity or what he's doing until he's already walking away- I'm so out of it. But when I do, I am immediately and suddenly _in the moment_ in a way that almost takes my breath.

It's like being punched in the face by reality.

Swallowing hard, I turn to walk over to the bench where the kids are sitting.

Nico is leaning up against the wall on the other end of the bench and keeping up a running commentary.

I think she was doing that with my bout too, but I can't remember it.

"Alright now look here, watch Dante stomp both of 'em," Nico says. "But also watch how they lose, right? The way they dodge the hits and duck and roll and whatnot. Yer mama tends to do a lot of that in a fight, but she didn't bother demonstratin' today, so you'll hafta make do with Nero. Dunno what V'll do. That'll be interestin'."

And indeed it is.

From the first moment, V takes up an aggressive posture and beats off both Dante _and_ Nero, who seemed to have come to the agreement to take him down first.

But he doesn't attack head-on, no. No, that'd be too inelegant and brash for him, wouldn't it.

Instead he dances around Dante and Nero and redirects their sword blows- using a minimal amount of effort and sometimes even causing them to attack each other.

The kids holler and cheer him on because they think he's the strongest from the display. It's adorable.

It's also totally not going to last long.

By the time V bows out of the fight, I'm gripping the bench hard enough nearly to break off splinters.

He shoots me a look as he leaves and I hurry to catch up and give him back his cane.

We don't say anything to each other. Mostly because I can _see_ how much he's straining to stay upright and force down his usual bodily reaction to that much activity. And he just wants to get the hell away from watching eyes.

So I let him go and then, it's the kids turn to fight Dante and I have to hurry back inside.

I'll take V something to eat later. Maybe something indulgent. That'd be nice after something like this, right?

Just wish he didn't push himself so hard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you guys really like my nonhuman/human romance stories and you think you'd like it even in an original universe context rather than fanfic, you can go to my blog on Tumblr and find my patreon link in the sidebar. I post a new draft chapter of Separation and Supposition there every saturday now. And on wednesays I decided to publish some writing advice and stuff like that.
> 
> Separation and Supposition is alien/human so if you're into that kind of thing, you might like it!
> 
> Here's my Tumblr:
> 
> Unrealromance.tumblr.com


	14. Chapter 14

Thankfully V has stopped literally throwing me into snake pits and now we're doing theory, practice and _then_ fieldwork.

I think I've actually seen him smile a few times when I got an answer right, but I'm not sure. Could just be wishful thinking. It's always gone before I can really catch it.

"Try it again," he says after adjusting my runic circles. "You need to memorize these, but that can come later, after you learn to use them."

I'm guessing that's how _he_ learned, but I don't argue. It was already hard enough to get him to teach me like a human instead of a demonic hybrid, I don't wanna rock the boat.

"You know, Nico's been studying your ailment," I say and lean away from the runes. "She says it's demonic in origin, but…it doesn't read any differently than Nero's demonic bits."

"I know," he says and tenses up as he paces around me. "Apparently, my own demonic nature is like a cancer. Cells that don't know what to do with themselves."

"We could always try and do what I did," I say. "The modified ritual. Put your demon-y bits where they can be used but not hurt you?"

He turns toward me and his mouth twists up. "I'd rather Ascension, but thank you for the offer."

"Ascension!?" I say. "V, being a full demon isn't as advantageous as it sounds."

Going straight for the moral quandary or how losing your humanity sucks won't convince V not to become a Demon. But I figure…if he knows exactly how _inconvenient_ it could be, maybe that will?

Looking over at me, he tilts his head and curls up on the window seat he's sitting in. "Oh? Do tell."

I can tell he's being sarcastic, but I go for it anyway. "Demons have weaknesses that can be exploited. Humans might be weak by a demon's metric of strength and durability, but Lady has shown that this can be compensated for with training and the right equipment. And _I've_ shown that you can be human and still use demonic power without getting all twisted up by it."

He frowns, but he's listening, so I continue.

"Humans are versatile, but Demons specialize," I say. "Even my kids, Sparrow and Raven? Sparrow is small and is going to need something that will allow him to move freely to dodge attacks but still hit hard- which is why he's probably so fascinated with guns. And Raven is too big to maneuver, so they have to learn to hit even harder than Sparrow and with accuracy, which is why they like Trish's fighting style with the big sword."

His eyes flick over to the window as I speak, like he's not listening. But the way his fingertips are edging along the carved edges of his cane, I know he's thinking about what I'm saying.

"Which is why I had to modify the ascension in the first place," I say. "I didn't just want to be strong, or fast or…safe. I wanted to be able to keep my own mind, be able to execute plans in a fashion that demons could not or would not- and I wanted to still be human so that demonic soft spots wouldn't work on me."

"But you are still vulnerable," he says. "You are still soft and easily killed." He turns his head to regard me, eyes lidded and far away. "All your cleverness won't matter if a demon gets off a lucky shot and impales you through the heart."

"Well actually," I say and bite my lip. "It would have to be the head."

He gets less far away at that and his brows furrow deeper. "What?"

"My heart is where all my power is," I reply. "It's where I _keep_ it. If I die, the power is gone- and if someone attacks any part of my body besides my head- it heals me. Even my heart, where it's supposed to reside- especially there. But without a brain, my heart can't receive directions to beat, even if it's been repaired. So…you'd have to hit me in the head."

"Your still-beating heart would have to be eaten out of your chest while you are still alive," he says. "A painful death."

"One which I have experienced…three? times," I say while suppressing the memories. "After a while, they seemed to get the idea that it wasn't working. They got none of my power. Though they did have a source of renewable human blood and heart tissue so…"

God, I can't talk about this. Please don't ask anymore about this.

"How did you make yourself…unkillable?" he says.

I look up and frown. "I just told you I'm not."

"Demons won't kill you because you hold power and they want it," he says. "If they can't take it from you, they'll have to make you give it to them. Which gives you power and opportunity in the situation. You can't die unless they're willing to give up what you have. And no demon would be willing to do that."

Well, he's right.

"Except Vergil," I say. "Because he's half-human and could make the deduction that my power was a dangerous temptation for his demonic half. He tried to kill me every time we met."

I can still remember Yamato singing toward my head- and Dante saving me with a last-second pirouette.

Nothing in this world is exactly the same as it was in the game universe. Completely different series of events led up to Vergil finally dying and then coming back as Nelo Angelo…and dying again…

And this, now. I mean, I knew V was originally intended to also be one of Vergil's kids and they changed it during development but…

"Demons are powerful, but Humans are willful," V comments in his lowest, most sombre tone. He seems to struggle with something and then says, " _those who restrain desire, do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained._ "

" _Thus men forgot that all deities reside in the human breast_ ," I say back.

He lifts his head from the bowed position it was in while he was thinking real hard and stares at me.

"Also," I say and smile. " _Restraint is strength my friend, unless you're fond of your own end. Find the power inside your brain, that will enable the weakness to be contained._ "

I do jazz hands. "Anybody can put their opinions in verse honey. It doesn't make them more profound than your own thoughts. Even William Blake knew that. That was kind of the point of his poetry, wasn't it? To call people out for zealously following Christianity and get them to knock it off and think for themselves?"

His teeth run over his lower lip in a movement that kind of instantly sends my hindbrain somewhere I wish it wouldn't go right now.

And then he's curling into a ball on the floor, clutching his cane and hissing like he's in pain and trying to pull himself up.

I didn't even see him fall to his knees off the seat, it happened so fast. And all thoughts of any other feelings besides fear instantly flee my brain.

"V!?" I panic and immediately rush over to him, dropping down to grasp his arms and pull his hands up so I can see them.

They're cracking, but not flaking.

"Seems like a normal episode, not getting worse," I mutter as I slowly release his hands and pick up his cane from where it fell. "Just breathe, it'll be over soon."

His teeth are gritted and I can tell he's _trying_ to stay calm and breathe, but while you're in that much pain…

Finally he just jerks to his feet and takes the cane from my hand- jerking it away from me, really. "Leave me alone," he growls, then limps violently from the room.

Shit. I know he's sensitive about it, but I didn't think he'd get so upset. I tried not to fuss as much this time. Just be helpful the same way some people are for me when I have panic attacks and forget to breathe.

I guess I still have a lot to learn about what he might find helpful when he's having an episode.


	15. Dante POV

Been a _while_ since I had to worry about Vergil showin' up.

After last time, I was sure he was gone forever. I mean…how do you _survive_ somethin' like that?

But well, here we are. And I guess from V's description- not much of my brother is surviving at all. He's mostly demon bits and Vergil's blood and memories, now.

Not a great situation, all around. Considering Vergil's blood and memories are what make him so damn dangerous. And that more demonic power shoved into the whole equation probably means there are new tricks up his sleeve. Tricks I don't know about.

"Stop _doing_ that," V growls at Nero as he catches his arm for the third time today.

"Stop tripping then!" Nero growls back.

"It's none of your concern whether I trip and fall," V says.

"You're my brother!" Nero denies indignantly. "If you fall and hurt yourself, and I could've stopped it, I'm responsible. Now I've never had a brother, but I'm pretty sure protecting each other comes with the territory."

Eesh. Reminds me of me and Vergil to a certain point.

Nero's too clingy and attention-seeking and V is too aloof. They can't meet in the middle this way. I know from experience. Took me a long time to learn the difference between being friends with someone and being obsessive about getting their attention.

He just always refused to _look_ at me, when I really wanted him to. Pissed me off so bad.

And I could never give him space, which made him withdraw more and more. So. I guess half of my own problems are my fault.

Still, he could've stood to reach out somehow. Maybe he just didn't know how to.

Mom was a great caregiver, she just didn't seem to know how to get us to get along. We all had different personalities.

Can't remember anything about dad, except that he was supposedly some kinda Demonic hero. Protector of mankind. But from what mom told us, his personality was probably more like Vergil's.

Me? I took after mom, but I was still…different.

She had no idea how to get us to come to terms with our differences.

"I don't need your protection," V says coldly.

And I can see it happening again. Two brothers, too different to really get along. Nothing really wrong with either of them, they just don't know each other well enough. Don't _get_ each other.

Well. Can't just _let_ that happen, can I?

"Hey guys," I say. "Heads up."

They both stand to attention and stare straight ahead at the demons coming at us. Some lower level trash, really.

But when they're not looking, I swing my sword at the cavern above me and cause a cave-in.

It's pretty thorough and precise. Got to be. Can't have the whole place caving in and killing them. But I also can't leave space for them to crawl through.

The rocks settle into place and I nod to myself as I put the sword on my back. "Now…just gotta find the end of this tunnel…and wait on 'em to come out."

My brother and I never really had the chance to get to know each other in any other capacity. Aside from brothers, living in the same house. If we had, it would've been good for us. Fighting together, surviving together. Going out into the world, making our own friends and being our own people.

But we also needed more than just identity and closeness. Or danger.

We would've needed someone to watch out for us, make sure it never went too far.

So if they're gone down that tunnel for longer than the hour it should take them to clear everything out and leave- I'll go in.

But until then.

I turn on my heel and start walking out of the tunnel we came in.

"The exit's gotta be at least an hour's walk from here…" I mutter. "I'll find it about the time they should be coming out of it. They won't think a thing of it if I just start walking directly inside."

Hopefully they'll actually pay attention to each other, though.

Talking isn't really necessary. But watching and learning from your partner in a crisis situation, it can do wonders for your relationship.

Trish and Lady both taught me that.

Hell, even Vergil taught me that. The more we fought each other, the more I felt like we _understood_ each other.

So, hopefully fighting demons will be enough for those two. If not, they'll probably go at each other. Which could be very good or very bad for them, depending.

Sighing, I cross my arms and stare up at the sky as I emerge from the tunnel.

' _Guess this means I'm both rescuer and referee today,_ ' I muse. ' _Uncle's gotta wear so many hats. At least I don't have kids. Not sure I could wear the 'dad' hat._ '

Snorting internally, I marvel at the fact that _Vergil_ ' _s_ the one with two illegitimate kids. I totally thought I'd end up being the first to break a rubber and accidentally populate the world with little demonlings.

Wonder if I ever knew the lady he shacked up with? Or did he shack up at all…can't really see him doing anything else.

My brother is…for lack of better words? Intense.

So imagining him being with someone in some kinda fling is really hard. If Vergil liked someone enough to sleep with them? He'd probably like them enough to keep them.

And that's when I stop and remember that Nero was raised in an orphanage. Dunno _where_ V's been…

So either their mother is gone…or she ran away and hid them. Both are likely.

After all, if Vergil was as intense with his love as I can imagine he was- whatever woman he was with might've gotten scared. Not just of what he might do to hurt _her_ in some way, but what he might end up doing to the kids. Even accidentally. Even just by expectation.

And if their mother was human…those expectations might've crushed them.

Hell, the way V is…it's likely he may have pushed himself to the breaking point to meet Vergil's expectations. And Nero…can't even imagine the warm, sensitive guy I know as gaining approval at all. Ever. He'd have to totally go the other way.

Man…they really are…too much like us, Vergil…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am still not totally stocked up on backlog for the coming weeks but I managed to get this week's update finished!
> 
> Special thanks to AmberJae who is almost single-handedly fueling my creativity right now with their wonderful, long and descriptive comments!
> 
> Also to Shizzy1981, Sugah_Cookeh, Johskathewise and SiberianSpring, too!


	16. V POV, Nero POV

So. Infuriating.

Every time I turn around, he is _there_. Taking the enemies I had marked for my familiars before they can so much as squawk in their direction.

Finishing fights much faster than I ever could.

And when, halfway through the tunnels, when I nearly collapse in a fit- he reaches for me. That is really, truly, the final insult.

"I…can _stand_ …on my own!" I grit through my teeth as he drags me through the tunnel.

He snorts derisively, "no. You can't. Just shut up and keep moving, we'll find the entrance soon and then you can avoid me all you want."

A good deal if I've ever heard one.

Everything he does is vexing to me. He's loud, he's brash, he charges in when I would evaluate and plan meticulously first.

He is everything I am not and more powerful than I could ever hope to be.

By the time we get almost to the entrance, I am so filled to bursting with _something_ that I need to let it out. Usually I would quote something but the only quotes coming to mind are not…adequate.

( _You_ _ **can**_ _make your own poetry, you know._ )

I remember Wren constantly meeting a poem with a poem. Encouraging me to find my own voice. It's…something I never experienced before.

But the thought put toward that endeavor carry me until we reach a fork in the tunnel.

Nero sets me down on a nearby root and frets at the mouth of the fork, and I think hard on what I wish to say.

What I feel. What words would represent it correctly and in what configurations.

Then I lick my lips and I speak it, murmuring into the air where Nero hopefully cannot hear.

" _Darkened spaces, lonely places where pain burns bright inside me,_ " I bite down hard on my lower lip before continuing. " _Rigid faces and mortal paces serve to show me what someday might be._ "

Dipping my head, I finish. " _Weakened flesh and mocking crow, whether I perish or whether I grow. My time here as I slow, will show, will show, will show._ "

Stopping there, I am completely bereft of the _something_ that was filling me up not a moment earlier. I suppose…that means that it worked.

I shall have to teach Wren something particularly useful in exchange for that bit of wisdom she imparted on me. It's only fair.

* * *

Nero POV

V calms down a few minutes after we find the fork in the tunnel. Might have something to do with the poems he keeps muttering to himself.

I've noticed he does that a lot when he's stressed out or somethin'.

Dunno why he hates me so much.

At first I thought I was imagining it.

But then as time went on, he started to get more and more short with me. Snapping at the slightest little thing I did.

I know I've done… _something_ to offend the guy…my brother…but I have no idea what. And if I don't know what, how am I supposed to make it right?

Just know that it always gets worse either after a fight, or after an episode of that weird…curse…sickness…thing- that he's got.

Another cluster of little weird, insect demon things comes out and I have to ready Red Queen.

But I hear V shoving himself to his feet behind me, and the snap, crackle as he summons his bird familiar.

And I think maybe part of the problem is that he never gets involved in our fights. Because he gets pretty mad when I jump in and finish everything off.

Dante doesn't care who kills what as long as everything gets done. Usually. Sometimes he's havin' fun and you can tell. So I don't get involved with those fights.

Is this one of those times when I have to stand back and grit my teeth because I don't know if they'll make it out alright? Like when Kyrie's brother went off the deep end?

I turn and take my hand off the sword.

No, it's not like that at all. V isn't some demon worshiping cult leader and he isn't weak. He's just someone I wanna protect. I have to…make that distinction. In my head.

' _Just because you want to keep them safe, doesn't mean they need you to,_ ' I chant to myself as I drift back with V.

"Gettin' kinda bored," I say as I slip in beside my tattooed brother. "Wanna take this wave?"

He shoots me a sideways glance. It seems calculating, but also relieved. "It would be a pleasure."

The caress in his voice is different than usual. He always sounds kinda like he's talking poetry but this one has an extra tone in it.

As he walks off toward the tunnel that is now just… _flooded_ with demons- I realize it was just devoid of a tone instead.

Guess he really does like to be involved in the fight, after all. He's always so detached, standing back while his familiars do most of the fighting that I just assumed he didn't dirty his hands with shit like that.

But how else is he going to fight, with his illness and his body as weak as it is?

Gotta stop comparing him to me or Dante. He's not like us. That doesn't make him weak or incapable. He's just got…a different way of doin' things.

He steps out into the flood of demons and stretches out his arm. "Shadow of my heart, would you mind?"

His tattoos come off him in ribbons of ink that reshape into a massive circular blade that just _grinds_ it's way down the tunnel, cutting the demons nearly in half on its way.

"Griffon, if you would," V reaches up and his fingertips drift slightly over Griffin's underside as he flies past him.

" _ **Awwww yeah!**_ " Griffon lets loose a barrage of lightning and a few of the demons are incinerated almost completely.

And then he lifts his hand and _snaps_. And the last one explodes onto the scene, throwing around haymakers.

It's then though that V enters the fray. Because his familiars can only injure and incapacitate demons for some reason. I've gotta ask him about that later.

He darts forward using his bladed cane as a medium and quickly, efficiently, takes down the demons. One by one. Until the tunnel is empty, and he looks better than he has in days.

Usually when we get into fights, he doesn't let loose _half_ this much and by the end of it he's…weak. Coughing. Looking like he's cracking at the seams.

But now? His tattoos become one with his body again- covering his bright white hair in inky black- and he turns to me with a satisfied expression. More color in his face than I've ever seen before.

"Shall we?" he says gamely and gestures down the tunnel. In a better mood now, I guess?

I nod and grin, showing my teeth. "Dante should have made it to the other entrance by now."

"You do realize he is the one who trapped us down here?" he asks.

I sigh and shrug. "He's weird, but he didn't think it'd kill us or he wouldn't have done it. Don't take it personally."

"Oh on the contrary," he replies. "I believe we should do missions without Dante more often."

I grin wider now. "Hell yeah."

**Author's Note:**

> Remember to comment or kudos!
> 
> Even just to comment to say kudos!
> 
> I do prefer that you guys comment but any involvement at all is better than none, really.
> 
> Don't worry if you think your spelling is bad or your english isn't that good, I guarantee you I will still love the comment!


End file.
